EXPLOIT THE SCENE With Kyle “Kore” Parsons Episode 4: Twitter I am a communications major, focusing in journalism, public relations and entertainment studies. It sounds alright I guess, but it actually just means I have to write a bunch of bullshit that I don’t care about – scholastic standards, I suppose. One of my professors has assigned a communication’s topic based on a technique or tool important for the career, including public speaking, PowerPoint tips, and various other [obvious] elements necessary for this career. One of the important pieces of this class is to learn about the new various ways that media and technology are allowing us to communicate, such as the ever-growing dependence for social networking. I was assigned to present the social network, Twitter, and now I am officially killing two birds with one journalistic stone by incorporating it into this week’s column. Twitter is probably the simplest form of a social network that I have seen thus far, and as a result – it might even be the most professional (AKA: drama free). Twitter.com is a network (now associated with Stickam [we’ll get to this in a later column,]) that allows you to update your status periodically and allow your “followers” a glimpse into your schedule. Sign up, search people through name or interest, and click “follow” to receive their updates. That’s it. Twitter has been created to answer one question, and one question only, “what are you doing?” Who the F needs another social network, right? Plus, we all clearly have Myspace that has a status-identifier embedded into the system, right? Separate Myspace from your mind, just long enough to hear me out. Twitter has been developed to be less of a “home page” type of network where one attempts to paint a [typically false] idea of oneself for one’s viewers. It isn’t about impressing someone, or putting your poorly qualified HTML skills to the test. Twitter is strictly created to inform and communicate information from you, to a demographic that has interest in the type of account you manage. With twitter, you can choose to follow the key people in your life and potentially have a step-by-step break-down of their day. It’s almost like a continuous flow of mass text messages sent to all of your closest friends. You won’t be swamped with a bunch of little girls with gigantic damaged hair posting “PC4PC” or “W4W,” and if you have no idea what language I’m speaking then be happy! Twitter can be more personal, as well as professional, than most other social networking systems. On a professional level, a Twitter account can be used for various companies to advertise special events or promotions. For example, last week’s column, based in West Hollywood, started from information I received through a club promoter that I “follow” on my account. A more relevant example would be our very own Twitter account for MishMash Magazine. By choosing to follow the MishMash Twitter you can receive “live-time” updates from the site. My favorite part about Twitter is the simple phone applications that have been created for it. Twitter applications show one page of your updates along with the updates of people you have chosen to follow, almost in an update-chat type of setup. I know what 20 people are doing with one click from my cell. iPhones and other touch phones are now coming with Twitter applications that make the process part of your daily routine. Also, for those groupies and internet stalkers, Twitter offers a “widget” code that allows people to place their Twitter updates on other social networking sites. Many bands on Myspace are placing a personal widget next to each band member’s picture. Now y’all can get live-time updates for everyone on tour – lurkers! Thank you technology, you’ve creating yet another tool to exploit our lives! So, um… follow me. >> Follow MishMash Magazine on Twitter